


Exhibits

by yuletide_archivist



Category: Blood-Smoke Series - Tanya Huff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2008-09-30
Updated: 2008-09-30
Packaged: 2018-01-25 05:44:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,005
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1634666
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/yuletide_archivist/pseuds/yuletide_archivist
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Written for Starpiper</p>
    </blockquote>





	Exhibits

**Author's Note:**

> Written for Starpiper

 

 

Tony survived being kicked at of his parents' house for being gay. He has survived life on the street, turning tricks and dealing information. He has been friends to cops and junkies alike, and has come damn close to succumbing to the needle himself. He has been both a lover and a willing donor to a vampire, and is now a friend and near-equal to said vampire, Henry Fitzroy, bastard son of Henry the Eighth. Tony has survived the cattiness of film school and the humdrum work of the video store. It's even beginning to look like he might survive being a TAD on _Darkest Night_ , basic production/actor-herding skills required, wizardry and world-saving skills preferred. 

He's just not sure he'll survive _Lee_. 

**Exhibit A: Lee is devastatingly, utterly handsome.**

Oh, come on, he's a guy, he's allowed to be shallow sometimes. Okay, a lot of the time. 

The thing is, however incredible Lee looked from a distance, he looks a thousands time _more_ at close proximity. Tony has nearly died of asphyxiation more than once, and not in any way that could be construed as erotic, either. It's a bit awkward, suddenly having all this, this _access_ to Lee. Oh, hell, it's very teenagerish, not knowing what to do with his hands, but it gets bit better when Tony discovers that Lee can certainly kiss, but is less sure about other things when it comes to another guy. 

Because Lee's still excited, willing, what have you, and Tony gets to teach, not something he's had the chance to do much of, and Lee's a very quick learner. Waking up that morning, Tony observes that Lee's looks are very endurable at short distances. Even if he's snoring. And hogging the covers. 

**Exhibit B: Lee regularly displays a lack of self-preservation that Tony finds appalling.**

"It's probably nothing, Lee, I'll be back in an half an hour."

"Right. Like it was nothing when that ghost girl trapped you in that Chinese restaurant."

"I got out -"

"Barricaded you in with _chopsticks_ , and it took me, Henry and CB to dig you out."

"...What if I told you it's the bees disappearing?"

"Not the time for a Doctor Who reference!"

"Well..."

"Come on, either you tell me or I'll follow you."

"You'll do that anyway!"

"Yes, but if you tell me, I won't call Amy. She hates being left out of supernatural stuff."

""Fine. But if I tell you to duck, you duck. And it's not bees _disappearing_ , but they`re doing some very weird stuff..."

**Exhibit C: Lee gets kidnapped by zombies.**

A lot.

"Zombies," Tony says flatly, "You got to be fucking kidding me." But Henry's face is totally straight as he nods. If Tony wasn't shaking with fear for Lee, pacing in tight circles around Henry's living room, he would be laughing. A wizard and a vampire talking zombie fight tactics. Sounds like a bad B sci-fi horror movie to Tony. But instead, of course, this is Tony's real life, and he's asking the undead to tell him how to kill the living dead, so he can get his boyfriend back before he's more body than brains. 

The second time the zombies take Lee, Tony sets fire to the entire sewer system under Burnaby in desperation. Lee has to get a buzz cut and wear a wig on the set. Vancouver is under a boil water advisory for a month. Tony devotes all his free time to building a zombie detector.

By the third time, it's almost a joke. The zombie detector works almost exactly as advertised. (Those banana trees in Coquitlam? So totally not Tony's fault.) Tony kills the biggest zombie while Lee smashes in its flat screen TV, currently showing the WWII episode of _Darkest Night_.

**Exhibit D: Lee reads books.**

Tony doesn't have anything against reading, really. He just doesn't see the point when you could be watching a film instead. Doesn't matter how old or new, obscure or famous, bad or good, every movie has something to offer Tony, something more to teach him. 

But Lee reads, and he reads a whole hell of a lot. Tony didn't appreciate how much until he went over to Lee's place and saw shelf upon shelf, overfilling with books. 

And then Lee starts to bring them over to Tony's apartment, because his place is closer to the set on short turnaround days. "I need to finish this chapter," he says, and "In case I want to read before bed," and "To tide me over until the morning newspaper." Until Tony can only stare at the growing pile of books near what has become Lee's side of the bed, and wonder if he should bring a few DVDs over to Lee's apartment, along with the toothbrush and the clothes he's already got stashed there.

But one day, as he's doing a cleanup (every six months, whether the apartment needs it or not), Tony finds one of Lee's books that has inexplicably become wedged under the couch. He meant to just pick it up and put it back, but he's kind of curious about the title, and ends up reading half the book before Lee gets back with takeout. Hey, he thought his life was messed up, but Harry Dresden's is a lot worse. Even if they did get most of the vampire facts wrong.

**Exhibit E: Lee cares about him.**

Lee brings him food when he's sick. He worries about Tony when he hasn't got enough sleep and has an eighteen hour shoot tomorrow. They have inside jokes and a weekly horror movie date. It's not like no one's ever done nice things for Tony before; he's had friends, decent coworkers, Victory, and of course, Henry. But he's never felt so free to care back, without fear that the other person won't need or notice it, or that they would demand everything in return. Instead, Lee treats him like a partner, and Tony's beginning to think that's what they are, snores, zombies, books, and all.

 


End file.
